Rising LeadersThe Russell Conwell Center Emerging Scholars Newsletter

Emerging Scholar Spotlight: Joselyn Castro and Caroline Houk

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Volume 1 : Issue 5: Spring 2014

Name: Caroline Houk (L), Jose-lyn Castro (R)Hometown: Doylestown, Haver-town Majors: Social Work, Media Stud-ies & Production

Joselyn and Caroline have hit the ground running in their

freshman year. Already involved in Temple Smash and Temple Up-date, Joselyn is making headway on her goal of becoming a direc-tor. Caroline’s interest in becoming a school counselor has led her to pursue a demanding degree in social work.

How would you describe your first year at temple?

Caroline: I feel like I have re-ally grown up. Temple offers the full “college experience”, and I have definitely reaped the benefits of that. I learned

quickly that I am in charge of myself, and once I realized that, I was able to get more focused on school.

Joselyn: I have matured so fast. I started getting more or-ganized. I found that coming to Temple was a big step towards my future. I am learning how to manage myself as a college student, while also getting used to living in the city.

Do you have any tips for the incoming freshmen?

C: Always stay ahead of your work! Time management is the best skill you can have in

Financial Aid packages are coming in from different

colleges and the government, but what do they mean? There are two categories of aid; the type you need to pay back, and the type you do not. Financial aid that needs to be paid back comes in the form of loans. “Gift-aid”, or aid you do not need to pay back, can be grants or scholar-ships. However, there are loans of all different names, each with varying benefits and stipulations; the same goes for scholarships and/or grants.

Need-based Loans will appear as either Federal Perkins Loans or Federal subsidized Stafford Loans in your financial aid package. Loans that are considered subsi-

dized do not start accruing interest until after the student graduates- the government pays the interest until that point. Non-need-based Loans are called unsubsidized Stafford Loans or Parent PLUS Loans. Unsubsidized Loans col-lect interest, and must be re-paid before the end of college. PLUS Loans work a similar way, but allow parents to borrow the full amount of college tuition. Loans may also be offered by private institutions.

Gift-Aid is comprised of grants and scholarships. Scholarships can be given by a college, the state government or private institutions. Eligibility for a schol-arship is heavily dependent on the source from which it comes.

When colleges offer scholarships they are focusing on merit, athlet-ic or artistic abilities.

State scholarships are given out when a student attends an in-state college.To receive a scholar-ship for a state school, students often demonstrate a high level of academic achievement, but can be awarded a need-based scholarship as well.

Private institutions allow students to get the highest amount of mon-ey based on their achievements in school and in their community.

The other kind of “gift aid” is grants. Grants are need-based and can be presented by the college, or by the state. The state govern-ment is the largest source of this

funding, since grants are need-based. The most common grant is the Pell Grant. The Pell Grant is calculated with financial aid awarded and cost of attendance in mind, and the amount award-ed varies. Colleges give grants based on need, and attempt to take ethnicity, gender and family situation into consideration.

It is important to note that just because aid is offered, you are not obligated to accept everything. All offers may be declined, so take into consideration all of your finances when deciding what to accept and what to defer. To learn about any of the awards mentioned here, log on to www.bigfuture.collegeboard.org/.

-Christina Betz, Editorial Intern

Deciphering Your Financial Aid Package

Name Aid Type? Need-Based? Given By Interest Rate

Federal Perkins Loan Yes Federal Government 5%Stafford (subsidized) Loan Yes Federal Government 6.8%Parent PLUS Loan No Federal Government 6.41%Stafford (unsubsidized) Loan No Federal Government 3.86%Private Loan Yes Banks/Colleges VariesPell Grant Grant Yes State Government N/A

college. If you struggle with using your time wisely now, there’s no better time to start learning. You don’t want to realize you need help in the middle of your first semester.

J: College is not a joke. Being on your own can be deceiving. Even when you feel like you don’t have work, there is still something to do. As a col-lege student you have certain responsibilities, and one of them is making sure you do your work, and work as hard as you can.

-Christina Betz, Editorial Intern

Coaches’ Corner

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• Stay organized and everything else will fall in place.

• Set goals and priori-ties.

• Have fun and enjoy your college experi-ence. It’s one of the only times you can really have fun.

• Welcome to Temple

University!

Coaches’ Tips

Name: Romer AcostaMajor: Management and Informa-tion systemsHometown: Dominican Republic

Romer Acosta, a Dominica Re-public native and sophomore

majoring in management and in-formation system is very devoted to giving back to his community.

What is your involvement on campus?

I am a part of the Latino orga-nization, but most of my time is dedicated to being an Academic Coach.

How do you like it as an academ-ic coach?

I have grown a great passion for not only being an academic coach but assisting and helping people. It makes me happy to see growth is students that I have helped guided and mentored. I also help to conduct various workshops.

How has working with the RCLC influenced you?

As a teacher in Summer Bridge it was interesting to see the other side. I gained a bigger apprecia-tion for what it takes to become a teacher. I did not realize how much time a person had to devote

in order to prepare a lesson. All the work that goes on behind the RCLC in preparing for the Sum-mer Bridge program itself was another arduous task. Overall I loved it. It was an experience that has opened my eyes to the possi-bility of even pursuing a career as a teacher.

What are your future goals?

Later in life, I plan to work with and help minorities who have migrated to America. At age 12, I came to America with my father, leaving my mother behind. It wasn’t the easiest transition, but it is an obstacle I overcame. One of the hardest transitions in coming to America was fluently perfecting the English vernacular. I would like to help minorities overcome language barriers as well.

-Zuliesuivie Ball, Editorial Intern

As college tuition continues to increase, more and more stu-

dents must take on loans in order to graduate. But loans must be paid back, and with interest, put-ting students even farther in debt. For exactly this reason, finding “free money” and scholarships has never been more important.

It is a time-consuming process, yet applying for scholarships can more than pay for itself in the long run. Google searches can get you started on your scholar-ship search, but there are websites strictly dedicated to making this task more efficient and beneficial to the student. Some of the best websites include:

• www.fastweb.com• www.collegeboard.org• www.collegenet.com•www.studentscholarshipsearch.com/

• www.zinch.com

These websites compile scholar-ships from across the country into

one database. While a keyword search is good for quick schol-arship matches, the majority of these websites have the option to construct a “student profile”. The profile allows you to search numerous categories at once. On websites like FastWeb and Zinch, scholarships are recommended for you based on your activities or academic qualifications. By creating accounts and profiles

with the website, you can mark the scholarships you are eligible for so you can go back and apply for them at a later time. When building your profile, make sure to include every activity you have done-some scholarships are obscure and you never know what you might be eligible for.

After finding scholarships comes the hard part. Many scholarships will require essays or writing pieces of some sort. These are the most important parts to win-ning a scholarship, and should be treated as such. As many students are familiar with writing an essay for class, the same guidelines should be followed. It is import-ant to make sure you answer all the questions that the scholarship asks. Extensive edits and revi-sions are necessary, because there are hundreds or even thousands of other students trying just as hard to win.

-Christina Betz, Editorial Intern

• Keep track of deadlines- Senior year moves quickly so don’t miss out on any opportunities.

• Pay careful attention to every-thing you submit. If reusing essays or cover letters double check that anything related specifically to a scholarship has been changed to reflect the right information

• Follow directions! Strictly adhere to stipulations about word count and supporting documents

Increase Your Chances of Winning • 99% of the time you won’t

need to pay for a scholarship application (don’t give out credit card or bank info)

• If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. You have to dedi-cate time to scholarship search-es, and even more to applying for them

• Money is never hidden or “un-claimed”, so don’t let websites that tout these taglines pull you in.

A Warning about Scholarship Scams

Searching for Private ScholarshipsPaying For College Early